First Ever Pedi!!

So...apparently my blogging friends don't dutch oven..because I didn't have much of a turn out on recipes:( Work however provided me with some amazing ones I can't wait to try! This next week I am so excited to report that my cute friend Bobbie invited me to go get lunch and pedi's! I have never had one before, so I am kind of nervous. I have had plenty of manicure's which I didn't care for, so hopefully this will be better! Can't wait to show these cute piggies off!

Tonight Gracie and I took Luke to Texas Roadhouse for Father's Day so he could have a ribeye and he loved it! Then we went and walked around Summerfest which was fun to browse around. Always fun running into old friends.

This Friday I have the dentist which I am not looking forward to, but I will just focus on my Saturday pedi date! Wahoo! I will return and report:)

Dutch Oven Recipes

Insert here.

Summer & Dutch Oven Recipes

I feel like Summer is finally here...at least for a day or two. I know with the flooding the rain is not good, but I am a rain girl! I wish it would rain every day! I love the cooler temps! Everything is still so green too! With all the medications I am on for diabetes..I can't spend much time in the sun since I instantly get burned and I over heat way to fast. Summer for me usually means a daily headache from the heat, so I am truly grateful for the cooler temps we have had thus far!

Luke, Gracie and I went to a friend's house Saturday night for a huge cook out and it was a blast! Delicious food..great company and the kids loved every minute of it! I even had smores! I haven't had them in years! Which made me want a fire pit in our yard since we live in the middle of nowhere, so Luke is going to build us a big pit! I am thinking Dutch Oven cooking is in the near future...so I am on the roundup for some amazing dutch oven recipes! So send them my way if you have favorites!

Our garden looks awesome! Our peas are about 6 inches tall and everything is in full bloom! Including my allergies lol. I hope everyone is enjoying the summer!

Leroy Marion Grace

So just went I thought the blogging world had hit a dead end..so much has happened lately that I feel I need to post. On Monday, May 30th Luke, Gracie and I were traveling to Logan for a Memorial Day Barbecue at my brother Mark's house, when we saw a SUV towing a trailer full of wood coming towards us that was totally out of control. Luke looked at me and said that is an accident waiting to happen. The trailer was fishtailing so bad and there was no sign of the driver slowing down at all. Luke continued to watch him in the rear view mirror and within seconds Luke said there it goes! We flipped around and were some of the first on the scene which was horrific. There were 5 people in the SUV. 4 of them made it out, 3 of the 4 with bad head injuries, a 7 year old girl who walked away without a scratch, and then..trapped in the bottom of the vehicle was a 94 year old man who had lost consciousness from his head hitting the roof since it rolled several times. I can't get that picture out of my head. He had a pulse, but was pretty much gone. His grand daughter who seemed to be about my age kept talking to him, telling him he was going to be ok and to hang in there....a bunch of people were able to get him out of the back and I knew I was going to have to do CPR, but the grand daughter hopped right in and tried CPR but it wasn't working. It seemed like an eternity before ambulances showed up. When they started doing chest compressions this sweet old man just started throwing up his insides...he never came to. Life flight came and he died when he got to the hospital. What a cute man..I wish I would have had the opportunity to meet him. It is so sad how fast it can all be taken away so quickly. Being 94 I am sure he lived an amazing life...it's just this feeling of helplessness that is so horrible. It was almost a full week before I could fall asleep without seeing his face trapped him that vehicle. My heart goes out to that family.

Blogging Rut

I am thinking I am done with the blogging world. You ever have those days, weeks, months or even years you feel like you are talking to only yourself? THat's pretty much where I am at. I figure I might as well just start an online journal. I hope this finds everyone happy and healthy. Love to all.

Park City w/Mom;)

So this past weekend was my annual Park City trip with my cute Mom where we shop til we drop! Good food, great shopping and memories to last a lifetime! The condo was gorgeous..I am obsessed with the Food Network since I don't have it at home, so any second we were at the condo we were watching the food network and playing cards! My Mom and I have been doing this trip for over a decade now and look forward to it every year! It's so nice to just get away from life for a few days and spend it with my idol. It's funny, even after knowing my cute Mom my entire life, I continue to find out new things every time we go.

Yesterday was such an awesome day. Luke and I had to teach the Marriage and Family Relations class and out topic was the healing power of forgiveness in your marriage. When we first got the topic we were both terrified. It is a subject that Luke and I have struggled with throughout our marriage and the lesson couldn't have gone better. I felt things yesterday I haven't felt since Luke and I first got married. It was incredible hearing couples talk about how they work through their differences and learn to forgive each other. I truly feel like this lesson was just what we needed! Awesome day! Then we went to my parents for Sunday dinner and they surprised Gracie with a bike! We took the other camera and I haven't pulled the pics of that one..but I will post soon. She loved it! She is getting so big and she is such a great kid. Yesterday in sacrament we were surrounded by out of control kids. I lose so much respect for parents that don't control their kids and let them be as loud as they want in sacrament or let them sit there and cry...Gracie was so good. Didn't make a peep. I just feel like the luckiest girl in the world!

For Mother's Day we went and took flowers up to Luke's sweet Mom. I can't wait for the day when I can throw my arms around this beautiful woman! So grateful for her!

My cute Sadie has laryngeal paralysis and on Saturday I think we took our last walk:( She could barely make it home..I hate to see them get old, but on the other hand I am so grateful I have had the opportunity to see them get old. I am just praying she and the rest of my cute hounds still have plenty of good time left in them. My Mom says...a teaspoon at a time. I hope everyone is doing great!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day for me for so many years was such a horrible day. Not because I have the most AMAZING Mom on the planet and I love her more than anything, it was the fact that Luke and I had been married a few years and I was so baby hungry, all of my friends were having babies and I couldn't have one. Mother's Day just became this HUGE reminder that I wasn't a mother and never would be. In church on Mother's Day they would pass out flowers to all of the mother's and of course I was ALWAYS over looked since I wasn't a mother. Year's passed and each year got harder and harder..so many friends, everyone getting pregnant and still, because of diabetes and my health, I was told to never get pregnant. Luke and I tried to adopt for so many years with no luck until we thought we were getting a brand new little girl from Canada, but at the last minute that fell through which was heart wrenching. After 9 years of this, I decided I was going to do whatever it took to be a mother. I wanted a baby that bad, so to make a long story short..my miracle was born on July 22, 2007. And for the first time, I finally got a flower the following year in church. Amazing how good that one small flower can make someone feel...

Gracie sure does test my patience sometimes, but it is amazing how fast you can fall in love with something so small and so precious. From the moment I found out I was pregnant I fell in love with that little peanut growing inside of me. And from the moment I laid eyes on her, I was just smitten! Such a beautiful, perfect little sweetheart and she was all mine, finally making me a Mommy! I spend so much time staring at her. She truly is my life. I have to keep pinching myself because it all feels like a dream I am going to wake up from. How in the world did I get so lucky? I knew from the second I had her, that she would be my last seeing how I wouldn't make it through another pregnancy, so each time I would put away the 3 month clothes, the 6 month clothes, I felt like a part of me died...I wanted so badly to have one more, just so she would have a sibling..and in case anything ever happened to Luke and I, that she wouldn't be alone, but I still have to focus on the fact that we were blessed with her!!! I wish I could have seen a 2nd child roll over, crawl, walk..but I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father for blessing my life with the most amazing little girl! Each day it seems like she is learning something new and each day I fall more in love with that little Gracie bug. And now..for Mother's Day...I can't think of anything greater than the blessing of being a Mom:) I love you Gracie!!!